Sixth Cycle
by nighttimesshadow
Summary: AU: Rukia always used to be out-shined by everyone, until she is choosen by the long-lost Seishin, Sode no Shirayuki. There she is thrown into a different world, a world of power, and love.  Full summary inside  Couple: IchiRuki   Status: Hiatus
1. Prologue: Legends

AN: This is my first story. I am only 13 years old, so I hope that isn't an impediment to the quality of this story. Well… I hope you like it! I kinda got the original idea from the books Eon and Eona, but I changed it.

Summary: Rukia has always been out shined by everyone, but when she is chosen by the long lost Seishin, Sode no Shirayuki, she is dragged into the world of the shinigami, six lords and ladies who wield one of the six Seishin; Shuni Rikka(the earth Seishin), Shinonami (the water Seishin), Sairentoburīzu (the air Seishin), Akai honoo (the fire Seishin), Sandābādo(the electricity Seishin) and last but not least, Sode no Shirayuki (the ice Seishin). Only one out of the five is ever nice to her, and his name is Ichigo Kurosaki, Akai honoo's wielder. But once again, she is outshone by the beautiful Orihime Inoue, Shuni Rikka's wielder. But when an ancient force comes back to life, and is intent on destroying the shinigami for once and for all, Rukia is dragged into a world of power, danger, and most of all, love.

Disclaimer: Sadly, I do not own Bleach. I only own the laundry detergent.

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><p>~Sixth Cycle~<p>

Prologue

_When this world was created, it used to be just a round piece of rock floating in empty space. It had been a world of despair and misery. There was no sun, there were many plagues, the weather was always freezing, and without vegetation, there was an endless circle of humans killing one another for food. But one day, something changed, and five children were born with strange powers. The first child was named Shuni Rikka, was given the powers of earth. She created grass with every step she took, and flowers grew when she danced. With her gifts, she healed the world of their plague and created new life. The second child was named Shinonami. She was given the powers of water. With her tears, she created the lakes and the rivers, which eventually lead into an ocean. The third child was named Akai Honoo and had the powers of fire. He gave the people fire to warm themselves up with, and he created a sun to give them light. Soon he discovered that he did not have enough power within himself to give them light full time, so he let the sun disappear every night. With his powers, the world warmed up quickly, and so the fourth child, Sairentoburīzu was given the powers of air. With those powers, he created the wind, to allow the people to cool off. Sandābādo was the fifth child, and he had the unusual powers of electricity. He gave the people power to give themselves power to give them light in the darkness. Together, they recreated the world, making it better, and into what they thought was the perfect world._

_ As we all know, perfect worlds often do not last, and this one did not. With Akai Honoo's power, soon the world grew too hot to live in, and not even Sairentoburīzu's power could cool it down. So the sixth child was born. Her name was Sode no Shirayuki and she had the powers of ice. She cooled down the earth with her power. But the change was only temporary, and soon the world grew hot again, and she had to use her power again, to cool it down. It became an annual pattern, and so came the seasons._

_ Many years passed, and the kids grew older, and were granted eternal life. Their powers soon became the way of the earth, and they never had to use their powers again. They all found their soul mate within the group; Shuni Rikka and Sairentoburizu, Shinonami and Sandābādo, and Akai Honoo and Sode no Shirayuki. Life was perfect for them, but at the same time it was boring. Until one day._

_ One day, something new was created, a round orb. Seemingly out of nowhere it appeared, landing in Shuni Rikka's path. She picked it up, but sensing that it had power, grew frightened and threw it away._

_ The orb flew across the land, until it landed in a young boy's path. His name was Aizen Sosuke. When he touched it, he gained the power to destroy. Unknowingly, Shuni Rikka had just created a new enemy. Aizen joined himself with the orb, called the Hogyoku, and gained unbelievable powers. With those new powers, he set out to rule the land. Shuni Rikka, Shinonami, Sairentoburīzu, Akai Honoo, Sandābādo, and Sode no Shirayuki were shocked. Not even their powers could match his. _

_ Finally, after many battles, they finally caught him in a corner. They were all tired out, and none of them could spare another hit, for fear it might destroy them._

_ Aizen turned to face them, "You have me cornered, but what can you do to me? We are all immortals, but none of us can use our powers without being destroyed from the energy it takes. You all know that I will be the first to recover, yet you still stand here. If you retreat, I will spare you for another day so that you may recover, but if you stubbornly insist on staying, as soon as I get my strength back, I will destroy you all. So what is your answer?" He watched them pant silently._

_ As soon as she caught her breath, Shirayuki spoke, "We will never retreat, Aizen. We know we cannot best you, yet we will never stop trying. We are tired, yes, but I will defeat you._

_ Akai Honoo looked up, "Shirayuki! You can't! It will destroy you!"_

_ Sode no Shirayuki looked back at him, "Yet, you know I must. We created this land, so we must protect it. Look into your heart, you know it is true."_

_ Aizen watched her with an amused expression on his face, "And what can you do to me Sode no Shirayuki? You seem to be certain it will destroy me."_

_ She looked up, "Perhaps not destroy you, but it will seal you away. Goodbye, Sosuke Aizen," and with that she started chanting. With her every word, ice started creeping up around Aizen, slowly inclosing him in an iceberg. _

_ Right before it covered his face, Aizen looked at Sode no Shirayuki and whispered, "This will not hold me forever. One day I will come back, and you will regret it." And then the ice covered his face, freezing him, and sealing his powers away. That had been her strongest attack; with it she could seal away anything, but it could cost her life. As soon as it was finished, she collapsed to the ground, and her soul was lost forever to the darkness of death._

_ Akai Honoo rushed up to catch her, and tears fell to the ground. He turned to Shuni Rikka, "Can you heal her?"_

_ She shook her head, tears sliding down her cheeks as well, "I'm sorry, I can't heal death."_

_ That day had been a sad day for them all. They had won, but at the same time they had lost. They knew none of them would ever be the same again. As weeks passed, the loss of one of its creators changed the earth, sending it back into the hot place it had been before Sode no Shirayuki was born, and they knew they had to find a way to get her back before the world was destroyed. Shuni Rikka came up with a plan. _

_ "We could combine our powers to bind her soul to earth, and ours too. We would all be mortal souls, but we would also be reborn every life time and once again find each other. We could seal away our powers, and wait every generation for our souls to be reborn again, so we could all once again use our powers to once again make the earth the way it was before Sode no Shirayuki's death." They agreed, and that is why we have the six Seishin, and their masters._

That is the legend of the six Seishin and their wielders, known as Shinigami. It is a story that everyone living in the kingdom of Karakura know. It is the reason why generation, they choose someone to wield the swords of Earth, Fire, Water, Air, Electricity, and Ice. Everyone can try to become one, but the swords choose the wielder. Every time one of the Shinigami dies, he or she is replaced by another. But for some reason, only one of the swords has refused to choose a wielder, and that is Sode no Shirayuki. The other Shinigami have tried talking with the sword, and every year new people approach it to try and impress the sword, but no one was ever chosen, and over hundreds of years of trying, the people gave up. Instead, they held a festival in her honor every 5 decades, in hopes that her power would continue to be spread throughout the world, and keep the world from destroying itself.

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><p>AN: Well, this is the first chapter of my story. I will try to have the second chapter out by this Friday, but, in the meantime, please review! I would like to know if this story seems interesting, or if I made any mistakes. So, please review!<p> 


	2. Chapter 1: A Start

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach, but if I did, Ichigo would have kissed Rukia by now and Gin would still be alive and have married Rangiku.

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><p>~Sixth Cycle~<p>

Chapter 1

A Start

Rukia was standing in a field of pure snow. Even though she was only wearing a thin, tea length dress, she wasn't cold. _"_Where am I?" she wondered out loud. She looked around her, trying to spot an object that could help her identify where she was, but found only snow. There weren't even any footsteps, as far as she could see.

"You will have to find that out for yourself, young master," said a soft voice coming from behind her. Rukia whirled around and saw a beautiful woman standing behind her. The woman had long, pale lavender hair, and was wearing a Furisode kimono with a large pale purple bow in the back attached to a pale yellow obi. The kimono was very long, and both the sleeves and the bottom touched the ground. In her right hand she wielded a pure white sword with a long white ribbon coming from the end of it. Her violet eyes were kind.

Rukia turned to the mysterious woman, "Who are you?"

She smiled, "One day, young master, you will find my name, but for now, goodbye." She waved her hand and the snow-covered lands disappeared.

…

Rukia woke up staring at her white celling. For a moment, she thought of snow. She shook her head silently, remembering her dream. _What a strange dream…_

She got up slowly, and looked around her room, smiling slightly. There were few things that Rukia loved, but her room was definitely one of them. From her poster-covered walls, to her twin-sized bed in the corner, everything was covered in her favorite thing in the world, Chappy. All the posters on the wall were advertising Chappy; and her bed was adorned with millions of Chappy pillows. Her shelves had tons of Chappy stuffed animals and her books had Chappy bookends. She even had a Chappy rug on the floor.

She lifted up her rug, and set it aside. She felt around a bit, then lifted up two loose floorboards. She smiled. Right in a little hiding space beneath two loose floorboards, was one of the other few things that Rukia loved. She took out a golden case with beautiful lilies decorating the corners. She opened it, and looked at her beautiful swords, her prized possessions. She had spent most of her lifesaving up to buy those two snow-white swords so that she could participate in the Junsuina Yuki Dance, a dance made to honor the lost Seishin, Sode no Shirayuki. It was Rukia's dream to be the Rida, or the lead dancer, and every morning and night she practiced for at least an hour. She grabbed the hilt, and started carefully taking the swords out of their case when she heard a knock, then a familiar yell.

"Hey Rukia! We're going to be late! What the hell are you doing?" _Renji_,she thought. _What is he doing here so early?_ She checked the time, then gasped. It was already seven-forty, and school would start in less than 10 minutes. She quickly, but genteelly, placed her swords in their case, the placed them in their proper hiding place. She covered them with the rug, then quickly threw on her school uniform, ignoring the pounding in her ears from the relentless pounding on the door. She rushed out, and ran past a startled Renji.

"Hurry up!" she called back to him.

"What? It's you who was late!" He yelled, and started running faster to catch up with her fast pace. When he had caught up he turned to her and asked: "What were you doing that made you so late? You're normally the early bird!"

"Shut up! I slept in!"

"Seriously? I must record this day in my memory forever!"

"Shut up!"

He laughed, and they continued running. She grimaced in annoyance, but eventually found herself smiling at his joyful laughter. Renji was the other thing she loved, and the only person who she truly cared about. He was a brother to her, and she loved him like a brother. She smirked, "Race you," and she took off running.

"Hey!" He called, then hurried to catch up to her.

Rukia laughed, enjoying the feeling of freedom that came with running, or just exorcising. When she pushed her body to its limits, she could sometimes forget her past.

…

It was dark. He knew his eyes were open, yet he could not see. _Is this death? _He shook his head, surprised at his own foolishness. He was immortal, he could not die. With a jolt, he suddenly remembered how he had come into this state. It was her. The face of his most hated person came to surface, and he felt a murderous rage take over. He wanted to break free and kill everyone in sight, but with a sigh, he calmed himself. That would have to wait. Just a little bit more time, and he could break out of this icy prison. Then, he could get his revenge.

…

Rukia stood in front of the school, panting. She checked the time; they were still a few minutes early. Renji came running up behind her, and with a satisfied smirk, she turned to face him. "I won," she said in between breaths.

Renji grimaced, "Well, I wasn't trying!" He glared at her, the suddenly started smirking.

"What?" Rukia demanded.

Renji grinned evilly, "Well, you're all out of breath. How are you supposed to do the tryouts for the _Junsuina Yuki_?"

"That's not today!" she said, then realized that it was. "Oh shit!"

"Ha! I win!" Renji shouted, and with a pat on her head, he walked away into the busy crowd in front of the school, where he was immediately greeted by his many friends and admirers. Rukia sighed. Renji was very popular at school, while she was just an outcast. A few girls caught her staring, and stared whispering loudly.

"Look at the slut, staring at Abarai-kun as if he would date a bitch like her."

"Yeah, and she's not even pretty. She just thinks she's so special just because he hangs out with her outside of school." They all laughed, and turned away, pretending she couldn't hear. She took a deep breath, and walked through the gates.

Today, the school day seemed to go by even more slowly than normal, and, finally, her last period came. Besides the taunts at the beginning of school, Rukia wasn't bothered much today. She assumed, like her, the rest of the girls were anticipating the auditions for the Junsuina Yuki at the end of the school day. The festival's auditions would be hosted at her school this year. She stared at the clock, not even paying attention to what her teacher was saying. Her violet eyes had been chasing the second hand of the clock as it traveled around the rind of numbers lining the rim of the clock for the last five minutes. Finally, after what seemed like hours rather than minutes, reached the eleven, signaling that there was only one minute left. One minute left for the end of the school day, one minute left until she would be free to get her beloved swords and dress into her fabulous kimono that her aunt had bought for her. Her aunt had bought her a pure white one with a sky blue bow without knowing the special occasion that her aunt was buying it for. Rukia's aunt didn't even know about the two swords hidden under her floorboards, or else she would have probably forbidden Rukia from participating in the dance. Her aunt was very overprotective because of what had happened to Rukia's parents and brother and hated putting Rukia near anything that was potentially dangerous.

"Ding! Ding! Ding!" The bell rang signaling the end of school and bringing Rukia back into the present. She raced out of her seat, and out the door. She wanted to hurry and get home so that she could practice a little before the auditions, and her aunt wasn't home until five. She would never suspect anything.

…

As it turned out, Rukia didn't even get to practice much at all. She slipped on her kimono, tied the bow, grabbed her sword's case out from its hiding spot, and left for school once again. She stood in front of the open gates, a feeling of excitement and nervousness overwhelmed her. She took a deep breath, and rushed inside to the hall near the gym. Shockingly, even though Rukia was early, there were quite a few girls already waiting in the waiting room. A few of the turned her way as she walked in, but, realizing that it was her, turned away immediately. Rukia sat down in a quiet corner of the room, away from the other girls and looked at the walls. They were adorned with many posters of a beautiful sword (which Rukia knew was named Shirayuki) and five different people; two girls and three boys. One caught her attention, a handsome, muscular young man who looked about her age (sixteen) with bright orange hair and warm, chocolate brown eyes. She turned over to the person nearest to her and asked, "Who is that man?" She pointed to the poster.

The girl turned towards her with wide eyes, "You don't know who he is?" she said in a stage whisper. Rukia shook her head. "That's Ichigo Kurosaki! How could you not know who he is!" she gasped. The other girls in the room turned and looked at her. One of them, a girl who Rukia recognized as one of the girls who was taunting her in the morning said very loudly, "Humph! The slut strikes again! Too bad _everyone_ knows that Ichigo is dating Orihime. He would never even look at a slut like her." The girls around her giggled. Rukia turned back to the poster of Ichigo and pretended not to hear.

The girl who Rukia had first asked about Ichigo turned her way. "I'm sorry about them. I can't believe that some of them used to be my friends. I'm Atsuko, by the way."

Rukia turned to her, "I'm Rukia. And who is this Orihime person?"

Atsuko shook her head, her dark brown hair falling into her face. "Wow, you don't know her either?"

"I don't know any of them."

"Oh. Well, Orihime is that one over there." She pointed to a poster to their left of a girl with who was quite pretty, with big gray eyes and long auburn hair. "They are the five shinigami."

Rukia gasped, "These are the shinigami?"

"Yep."

Rukia looked around more closely at the posters now. So these were the famed shinigami. She had heard of them, but she had never actually seen any them before.

A door opened, and a blonde woman came in. She was wearing a very revealing shirt and a short gray skirt. "Hello girls! My name is Rangiku Matsumoto, and I'm in charge of the festival for this year to honor Sode no Shirayuki!" She looked around the room, at all of the waiting girls. "Well, well, well! Look at the girls anxious to have the main part in this dance!" She looked at all of the girls in the room. More people had arrived since Rukia had first arrived, and the room was now so full that people had to wait outside. Rangiku pointed to a few different girls. "If I pointed to you, then you will be the first to audition." She waved them in, then walked in the room while everyone else scurried to get their stuff ready. Rukia grabbed her case and scurried into the room.

"Good luck Rukia-san!" called Atsuko. Rukia turned and smiled at her.

"You too!"

Rangiku motioned for the girls to sit against the wall. Rukia looked around the audition room. It was her school's gym, so they would have lots of room to dance. As they lined up against the wall, Rukia noticed that there were a two other people on the room with Rangiku. One was a man with short silver hair and a creepy smile on his face. His eyes also appeared to be closed, which gave him a foxlike appearance. Rukia shuddered and turned to the other person, a young girl who Rukia recognized from the posters outside. As the other competitors realized who she was, there were a lot of gasps from her fellow competitors.

"It's Orihime Inoue!"

"Oh my god! A Shinigami is here! Really here!"

"Well girls, as I'm sure you all know, this is Orihime Inoue, and," she gestured to the foxlike man leaning against the wall, "this is Gin Ichimaru."

Gin nodded in head in acknowledgement, still smiling creepily and Orihime smiled sweetly at all of the competitors. "There seems to be a lot of people competing this time," she said.

Rangiku smiled at her. "Oh course! A chance like this only happens once every 500 years!" she turned back to the competitors, "So who goes first?" Rukia looked around, but no one stepped up. Rangiku looked disappointed, "No one? Aww. Oh well, that means I get to choose randomly!" She closed her eyes, and got ready point, but then Orihime put a hand on her arm.

"Do you mind if I choose instead?" she smiled sweetly, "I've never been to something like this before."

Rangiku smiled enthusiastically, "Sure! I don't mind."

Orihime looked around the room, her gaze landing on each one of the girls lined up against the wall. Her gray eyes met Rukia's violets ones and she smiled slightly. "How about you."

"Me?" Rukia pointed to herself.

"Yes, you."

Rukia stepped up to the mat, clutching both her swords tightly. Her heart was hammering in her chest. Rangiku smiled, "Whenever you're ready."

Rukia nodded and swung her swords into the starting position, preparing to aim for the sweeping high arc of the Earth Seishin 3rd; one of the many sequences in the swords dance. She tried to ignore it stares from the other girls, and took a deep breath to settle her nerves, then she elegantly swung down one of her swords in a deadly arc and brought up the second to cross with the other. Water Seishin 1st. _Doing good so far_, she thought. She uncrossed the swords, turning on her heal and lashing out with each of her sword and taking a step forward with each slash. The punishing form of the Fire Seishin 5th. She lifted her head, preparing for the high arc of the Air Seishin 8th, and accidentally met Gin's eyes. He still had the same smile on his face, but noticing her looking at him, he opened one of his eyes, revealing their bright blue color. A wave of Déjà vu hit her, and she suddenly felt sick. The last thing she remembered was sharp pain in her head as she hit the concrete hard. Then, nothing.

…

"_Rukia! Rukia! Get away from there!" her mother called, running after her. Right behind her mother was her older brother, Satoshi._

"_But mommy, I like playing here!" the young Rukia said back, refusing to budge._

"_Hurry Rukia! We must leave! They are coming!"_

"_Who is coming, mommy?"_

"_Come on, darling! Hurry! You have to run!" _

_Rukia turned to her mother, and was shocked to see tears running down her face. It suddenly occurred to her that her mother was serious. "Mommy…" She ran over to her mother, also crying. Her mother never cried. Why was she crying now?_

"_Mother! He's here!" Satoshi cried. _

_Her mother gasped. "Grab Rukia and run! Find your father! Hurry Satoshi!"_

"_But mother…"_

"_Go!" Satoshi grabbed Rukia and started to run. Behind them, Rukia could hear the sound of pounding, and a loud crash. Then there was a low voice, and her mother's scream. A gunshot rang through the air, then silence. Satoshi ran even faster, and then stopped at their mother's closet door. He pushed in Rukia first, then crawled in after her, shutting the door behind them quietly. They heard a crash as the door to their mother's room was broken down, and the sound of footsteps. _

"_Mommy?" Rukia called out, not knowing the danger they were in. Satoshi put a hand over her mouth, cursing._

"_Shh!" But it was too late. The people on the other side heard her. The footsteps walked to the front of the door and opened it a crack. The person peeped in with a startling blue eye._

"_I've found you, my little ones." He opened the door, and a knife glinted in his right hand. His other hand held a gun. "Hide and go seek is over."_

…

When Rukia woke up again, she was in the nurse's office. Atsuko stood over her, worried. "You fainted, Rukia! I was so worried about you!"

"I what?" She sat up, and looked at her new friend. Suddenly, she remembered what had happened. A wave of sadness hit her. _I blew it_, she thought,_ I had the chance to become the Rida, and I blew it._ Tears sprang to her eyes, but she held them back.

Atsuko looked at her, worried. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine. You should go back to the auditions."

"Are you sure, Rukia?"

"Yes." Atsuko still looked uncertain, but she must have sensed Rukia's need to be alone, so she left. As she closed the door, Rukia laid back down. Disappointment welled up inside of. She had failed them. Her dream… her mother's dream… There was no chance for her anymore. She sighed and checked the time. It was almost five o'clock. She slowly got up and got ready for the long walk home…

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><p>AN: Sorry if the characters seem a bit OOC, but like I said, I'm new at this. Sorry the chapter took a REALLY long time to write, but I was kinda busy with my grandpa in the hospital and my mom being sick... But I finally completed it. Yes! I hope you enjoyed it! Please review! Yes! Review! Review! REVIEW!<p>

And thank you for all of the wonderful reviews from the last chapter from sphinx, Eilyn, fujingodofwind, chibiyukia, and Mari! Sorry to make you all wait so long!


	3. Chapter 2: Destiny

~Sixth Cycle~

Chapter 2

Destiny

"Ding! Ding!" The sound of Rukia's alarm clock broke through her sleep, jerking her awake. Blinded by the bright sun coming through her window, she closed her eyes and turned around, trying to go back into her dream, but with no prevail. She groaned, then got out of bed to make herself some breakfast. As she was getting dressed, she heard the last voice she had expected to hear on a Saturday screaming at her.

"Rukia! Hey Rukia! Get your ass down here and open this door." _Renji, _she thought irritably. She hurried up, and rushed downstairs to end the annoying yelling that had ruined the earlier peace and quiet. She opened the door with a bang, causing a dark brown-haired girl to jump unexpectedly, but Renji to just smirk at her as if nothing had happened. Atsuko quickly brushed her hair out of her eyes, then greeted her.

"Ohayo, Rukia-san!" Rukia smiled at her new friend.

"Ohayo!" she said brightly, then turned to glare at Renji, "What do you think you are doing, waking me up on a Saturday!"

Renji just continued smirking, unabashed, "It's your birthday, isn't it?"

"Oh… yes it is." Truthfully, she had forgotten about her birthday until he had mentioned it just now.

"Happy birthday, Rukia!" He smiled. "Funny how your birthday just happens to be on the day of the _Shirayuki no Saiten_, eh?"

"Yeah…"

"So let's all go to the celebration today!"

Atsuko smiled. "And I'm going to be a dancer!"

For a moment, Rukia's heart sank at the mention of the once-in-a-lifetime chance she had missed, a chance to dance in the _Junsuina Yuki_, but she shook off her disappointment, and acted happy for her friend. "Congratulations!"

Renji looked at her, "Well, we need a ride. As your aunt to take us."

"Huh?" Rukia turned to her old friend in annoyance, " It's my birthday, so isn't the man supposed to take me out for my birthday?"

"I don't have a ride! So just go get you aunt."

Rukia rolled her eyes, then went to do his bidding. She tiptoed through her giant house, stopping in front of her aunt's door. She raised a hand to knock on the door, then paused as she heard murmurings from within.

"It's….. birthday….. couldn't you? …. I know, but … Rukia must know!..."

Rukia's eyes widened. _They're talking about me!_ She stood there silently, trying to figure out what she had to know, when her uncle opened the door.

Rukia opened her mouth, an apology already on her tongue, but her uncle just strode by her without a second glance. Her aunt rushed to the door, trying to catch up to him.

"Byakuya!" But he had already left. Her aunt looked down sadly, then turned and noticed Rukia. "Oh, hello Rukia. I didn't think you would be up already. What can I do for you?"

"Umm… well Renji was wondering if you would be willing to take him, Atsuko, and I to the _Shirayuki no Saiten_ today, Aunt Hisana." Aunt Hisana smiled at her, albeit a little sadly.

"I'll be glad to. It's your birthday, isn't it? I just wish Byakuya..." She shook her head. "I'll get ready." She walked back inside, and Rukia just stood there and watched her go. _What are they hiding?_

…

After a long car ride that seemed to take forever, they finally made it to the festival. When Rukia stepped out of the car, she looked around. It was everything that she expected it to be. She took a step forward, he shoes crunching in the fake snow lining the ground. She had been to quite a few festivals before, but none looked quite like this. Everything, from the tents to the shrine, was pure white and covered in ribbons. It was beautiful, and had a certain grace to it that took Rukia's breath away. Her friends got out, and for a minute, the three just stood there and admired its beauty as her aunt drove away. The first to move was Atsuko: she took out her watch and checked the time.

"It's almost time to get ready... I'd better get going! See you two later!" She left, leaving her just standing there alone with Renji.

She looked at him with a small smirk. "Race you to the shrine?"

He smiled back. "You're so going to lose." She laughed and they both started to run.

It was almost impossible to for them to run with the crowd as thinks as it was, so they soon gave up on racing, and instead focused on trying to navigate through the crowd to reach the shrine. It took a while, but eventually they made it. Rukia stood in front of the Seishin in sword form, entranced by her simple beauty. Sode no Shirayuki, just like everything else at the festival, was pure white. The blade, the hilt, the tsuba, the ribbon… the sword just seemed to beckon Rukia to her. She raised her foot to take a forward, then caught herself. The Seishin was not hers; what was she doing, trying to touch it?

"So that's Sode no Shirayuki." Rukia jumped at the sudden noise; she had not expected Renji to come up behind her.

"You scared me you baka!"

Renji, ignoring her, said, "Come on. The _Junsuina Yuki _is starting. Let's hurry up and get some good seats." Rukia looked around: a lot of people had left already. If they didn't hurry, they wouldn't be able to get good seats.

"Yeah, let's go." They walked away, heading to watch the dance. For some reason, Rukia felt as if she was leaving some part of her behind with the sword as she walked away. She looked back as she was walking away, but the sword was gone, probably taken away to be part of the dance.

The tent that they would be watching the _Junsuina Yuki_ in was no different than the rest of the tents, although bigger. If Rukia hadn't read the signs, they would have been lost. They entered the tent, and sat down near the back. It was indeed crowded, and Rukia couldn't even see the stage through the crowd of people in front of her. She didn't point this out to Renji, though, because he would have just laughed at her because of her height. For some reason, this brought on a feeling of Déjà vu.

…

_Rukia stood behind a large crowd, much like the one she was in now. There were a few differences, like the fact that everyone was dressed kind of raggedly, but they were in a similar room. She had a feeling that something important was happening, and that she had to see it, but she couldn't. "I can't see." She complained to the man next to her. He had short spikey black hair, and kind brown eyes. He smiled at her, and flicked her forehead playfully, before looking back up at the crowd._

_ "Clear a path! Coming through! My wife can't see!" Immediately, people rushed to do his bidding. _He must have a lot of influence here,_ Rukia thought. He grabbed her hand, then pulled her forward to the front row. She looked at him, and whispered:_

_ "Wife?"_

_ The man smirked, playing with her long blonde curls. "Just for some fun." He leaned down to steal her lips with a kiss._

…

"Rukia!" At the sound of her old friend's voice, she opened her eyes, the strange dream fading from her mind. It had felt so real… Her hand immediately went to her shoulder-length black hair, just to make sure it wasn't blonde or curly. Then she remembered the boy. She could still feel the lingering sensation of his lips on hers; her hand went to her lips in surprise. He had looked familiar…

"What happened?" she asked.

"You dozed off. Your eyes glazed over, and you kinda just stood there like a statue. You wouldn't respond to anything I said."

"Oh." She looked around her, noticing everyone staring at her.

"Are you alright?" one person asked, genuine worry on the old woman's face. Rukia nodded. The woman smiled, "Are you sure?" Then she noticed Rukia's height. "My poor dear! You can't see back there can you?" Rukia shook her head. The old lady beckoned her forward, "Here come over to the front." With the help from the old lady, Rukia made it to the front row, where she could see everything that was happening on the stage; the dance was half over. She noticed Atsuko in the left corner in the front row. She recognized the dance sequence: the earth Seishin 9th. She watched the dance progressing, and out of the corner of her eyes, she noticed Sode no Shirayuki begin to glow. At first the glow was faint, and she thought she had imagined it, but when it started glowing brighter and people started murmuring, she knew that she hadn't. As the sword's glow grew brighter, a golden sphere began to form at its tip. The sphere grew, then flew straight towards Rukia. As she stared at the orb, as voice spoke in her head._ Do you accept my power?_ Rukia's eyes widened. If she accepted, she would become a shinigami, respected by all. But she would have to leave her friends behind… her life… She could feel Sode no Shirayuki's growing impatience. She would have to decide now. She looked around; everyone's eyes were on her. She looked at Renji; he nodded.

"I accept."

Rukia could feel Sode no Shirayuki's satisfaction as the orb engulfed her. She closed her eyes, and felt herself being whisked off into another world.

…

She opened her eyes and noticed that she was back in the land of everlasting snow. In front of her, was the lilac-haired woman from before. A realization hit her.

"You're Sode no Shirayuki, aren't you."

Sode no Shirayuki smiled. "I am."

"Why didn't you tell me before?"

"There was no reason too." Rukia sat down on the ground, digging her hands into the soft snow covering the ground.

"What is this place?" she asked.

"Your inner world. Where I live."

"So… I'm a shinigami now?"

Sode no Shirayuki smiled with amusement, "If that's the silly name humans call people like you. Personally, I think it is rather ridiculous. You are not Death Gods."

"What are we then?"

Sode no Shirayuki hesitated. "That does not matter right now," she said, turning away. There was a few moments of silence before she spoke again. "Do you know why you are here?"

"It wasn't just to greet me?"

"No, young master. It is something more important by far. I don't have much time here-" Her voice broke off, and she seemed to choke on her words. Rukia rushed to her to try and help, but Sode no Shirayuki stepped back. "It's starting," she said.

"What is?"

"Whatever you do, don't put-" Her voice faded off. Rukia strained to hear, but she couldn't. Snow rushed up between them, and Rukia felt herself being pulled farther and farther away…

…

When she woke up next, she wasn't in the tent anymore. She looked around, taking in her surroundings. She was in an unfamiliar room. Everything was either white or a beautiful light blue, and fancier then anything she had ever expected to own. Right next to her bed was a beautiful nightstand with ribbons carved into its design in complex patterns. On the wall next to it, there was a desk, with the same designs carved into its side. The closet door was plain, but she bet when she opened it, it would be just as fancy as the rest. To her right was an Italian daybed style couch. The bed had a hand-made laced quilt with a matching long, gathered, and ruffled bed skirt. The sheets were silk, and softer than anything she had ever felt before. Her room wasn't decked-out like more modern rooms would look, but had kind of a medieval princess-like feel to it instead. The only thing simple in there was a beautiful stargazer sitting on her nightstand. It gave the room a fresh, clean scent. _So this is what it feels like to live like royalty. _She turned around hugging the fluffy pillows like she often would to her chappy pillows in her room. What was her aunt thinking right now? She wondered, and hoped that she wasn't freaking out right now.

There was a knock on her door. Rukia sat up in bed, and immediately put her feet on the ground, feeling for her chappy slippers, then remembered that she wasn't home. She walked over to the door, and opened it, revealing a young maid with blonde hair that reminded Rukia of her dream-self and green eyes.

The young maid looked at the ground, and with a curtsy, said, "Good morning Kuchiki-sama. The cook would like me to let you know that your breakfast is ready."

"Thank you." The maid curtsied again, then left. Rukia sighed; she was not used to this. Perhaps when she saw the girl again she would ask her to just call her 'Rukia' and to stop treating her like she was someone important. She turned and went back into her room, and opened her closet to find something nice to wear. It was her first time meeting the other shinigami, and she wanted to make an impression. She really did not know what she expected her closet to look like, but it wasn't this: a completely decked-out room with lounge chairs and even lights. Rukia flipped the switch a few times just to watch the lights flicker off, then brighten. On, off, on, off. Even though Rukia was one of the better off, even her family couldn't afford to have electricity full time. She flipped the lights on and off one more time, then set to seeing what she could find in the numerous drawers and in the vanity.

After continually opening each drawer and vanity, she finally found a nice outfit to wear. It was a simple black and white tea-length dress with a red ribbon tied around a black sash on her waist. She put it on, then stood in front of the mirror to see how she looked. The dress fit perfectly. She spun around once, liking the feeling of the way it looked when flowed around her thighs. It wasn't a very tight dress, and she liked that.

Rukia stepped out into the hallway, then realized that she had no idea how to get to the dining room where she would be eating breakfast with the rest of the shinigami for the first time. _Stupid me… why didn't I ask for a map?_ She sighed, and looked around, and was surprised to find that the hallway looked familiar. She decided to trust her instinct, and hoped it would lead her to the right direction. She turned left, then, after quite a bit of walking, found a gigantic marble staircase. She walked down, step by step as quiet as possible, and turned to her right. After a bit of walking, she came into a room, where she finally found the shinigami sitting at a large polished wooded dining table. At her arrival, everyone fell silent and stared at her except for one girl, a brunette, who kept her eyes on her book, uninterested in seeing the new shinigami. Rukia, noticing the robes and bed clothes, immediately felt overdressed. She flushed, then, in a stuttering voice, said, "H-hello. My n-name is Kuchiki R-Rukia. N-nice to meet you all."

There was a moment of silence, in which Rukia felt extremely awkward, but then an orange-haired man with warm, chocolate brown eyes smiled at her and said, "Nice to meet you Rukia. I'm Kurosaki Ichigo, but feel free to call me Ichigo." He smiled at her, and after a moment, Rukia smiled back. She found an empty seat right in front of him, and sat down. He ran a hand through his spikey orange hair, and she watched him. For some reason he seemed familiar…

"Ichigo-kun!" An auburn-haired shinigami, whom Rukia immediately recognized as Orihime, sat down next to him and threw her arms around him. He turned towards her and she kissed him on the lips. Rukia immediately felt a surge of jealously, but didn't understand why. It just felt wrong to watch the couple. She felt like it should be her sitting next to him with her arms around him, kissing him like that… Orihime noticed her watching and smiled with false enthusiasm.

"Hello! So you're the new shinigami? My name is Orihime Inoue. This is Ichigo, as I'm sure you already know."

"Umm… Nice to meet you."

Orihime smiled, "Did anyone else introduce themselves?" Rukia shook her head. "Well, the girl in the corner reading a book is Aika Hayashi. Right next to her," Orihime pointed to a young man with longish black hair and ocean blue eyes, "is Daisuki Murakami. And then there's Uryu Ishida." At the sound of his name, Uryu looked over and gave a little wave. Rukia waved back with a smile. "And that's all of us!" Orihime turned away and started to ignore Rukia after that. No one else bothered to acknowledge after that, and Rukia ate the rest of her breakfast silently, listening to the chatter around her. She tried to pick up on a few things about the household, but nothing they said made sense. Dead wastelands? Something about a dragon? She shook her head in confusion, and tried to make sense of what she heard.

…

After breakfast Rukia had started walking back to her room to change into something more comfortable. During breakfast she had received a note telling her that her training would begin today, and she did not think it was appropriate to wear a dress while being trained to fight. A sudden noise behind her made her jump, and she spun around. A man stood behind her. His attire (a button-down vest with a white undershirt and black dress pants) told her that he was one of the servants. He gave a formal bow.

"Sorry to disturb you Kuchiki-sama, but I was instructed to give you this." He held out a pure white ring with a light blue bird in its center. She took it, amazed by its beauty.

"Thank you," she said. He bowed then walked away. She turned around, and slipped the ring on her right ring finger.

…

A man stood in the shadows underneath the staircase. Keiichi was loyal, not even questioning his orders. He watched triumphantly as the petite shinigami slipped the ring onto her finger. _It is done, Aizen-sama._ One more part of the plan gone right. The girl was foolish, and soon she would bring upon the doom of the shinigami.

…

A.N.: I'm sorry if this chapter seemed kind of rushed. I had almost forgotten about the time that went by, and had forgotten how long it had been since I had last updated. I'm trying to update at least once a month, if not more, but it didn't work out for this chapter! (Ooops) Oh well. I'll try to be better. And I also apologize about the sucky quality of this chapter. I suck at descriptions… and it seems that there was a lot of describing in this chapter. This chapter was also not as eventful as I had originally meant it to be. (Sorry! I'm away from home, and I forgot my notebook, but I couldn't wait to finish this chapter, so I'll add everything else in the next chapter!) I'll try and update sooner! Feel free to review!

Thank you for the reviews from JosephineX, dbzgtfan2004, mautauaja, Novalee Phoenix, kawaiiemichan, monster in pocket, and HopefulEchoe~ I love you guys!


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